Heather Wilson

Heather Wilson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Mexico's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office June 23, 1998
Preceded by	Steven Schiff
Personal details
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Jay Hone

Heather A. Wilson (born December 30 1960), is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing New Mexico's 1st congressional district. She is the first and so far only woman veteran elected to the United States Congress. Much of her legislative focus has been on national security issues.

Currently, she is under a preliminary investigation by the House Ethics Committee over whether she made inappropriate contact with the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico by inquiring, shortly before an election in which she faced a stiff challenge, on the status of a corruption investigation involving a Democratic politician.

Early life

Born in Keene, New Hampshire, Wilson joined the United States Air Force at the age of seventeen, graduating magna cum laude from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1982. A Rhodes Scholar, she continued her education at Jesus College, Oxford University, earning a D.Phil.. in International Relations.

Career

Upon leaving the Air Force in 1989, Wilson became Director for European Defense Policy and Arms Control on the National Security Council. After leaving government, she founded Keystone International, Inc. in 1991 to promote business development in the United States and Russia. She is the former Secretary of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Family Department.

Wilson was elected as a Republican member of the House of Representatives in 1998 to represent New Mexico's first district. In 2004 following a debate with her Democratic challenger Richard Romero, former New Mexico Republican Gov. David Cargo said, "She is essentially a fairly conservative Republican." That year, the Albuquerque Tribune also wrote, "In reality, Wilson's six-year record of voting in Congress reveals a loyal, dependable vote for the official Republican Party position on the overwhelming majority of issues. Much more so than either of the Republican congressmen who represented Albuquerque before her. During the last three years of [Steve] Schiff's tenure in Congress (1995–1997), he voted the Republican Party line 78 percent of the time. During the last three years of [Manny] Lujan's service (1986–1988), he voted with the House Republican leadership 65 percent of the time."

Wilson is the first woman to represent New Mexico since Georgia Lusk in the 1940s, and is also the first female veteran to be elected to Congress. In the House, she serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

From 1999 to 2000 she won several awards including the "Hero of the Taxpayer Award"(1999).

In 2004, Wilson denounced CBS and Viacom at a House FCC Hearing following Janet Jackson's halftime performance at Super Bowl XXXVIII in which Jackson revealed her nipple . ("You knew what you were doing ... you wanted us all to be abuzz.") Wilson's specific words, "it was nasty," and her crying after the event, have become well-known soundbites: most notably perhaps on The Howard Stern Show, which received threatening notices from representatives of Wilson demanding an end to the show's negative discussions and bits related to Wilson. In late 2006, shock jock Howard Stern dubbed Wilson the "you knew kook" in reference to her much lampooned soundbite.

Wilson has recently joined the Republican Main Street Partnership, a coalition of centrist Republican leaders. Wilson has appeared on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher.

In 2003, Wilson voted against allowing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. The Secretary would have the authority to use the purchasing power of the federal government to negotiate contracts with manufacturers in order to ensure that enrollees in the new Medicare prescription drug benefit paid the lowest possible price. Drug manufacturers lobbied heavily against drug re-importation and price negotiations in part because of the lower consumer costs it would bring.

According to Congressional Quarterly, since 2001 Wilson has voted in agreement with George W. Bush 89 percent of the time, and with the Republican Party nearly 90 percent of the time. Despite this, during her 2004 re-election campaign, Wilson ran an ad in which an individual said, "Heather Wilson is the most independent politician I have ever known…she is non-partisan." Additionally, she ran an ad in with John McCain who said, "Heather is also an independent thinker, and like me has been known to buck her own party…" Wilson was reportedly "forced to change committees because she offended… Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, by siding with Democrats…. 'He told me I was too independent,' said Wilson."

Since 2001, Congresswoman Wilson has been a member of the House Page Board, and is currently a member of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's caucus.

2004 Election

In her first campaign for congress, the Republican National Committee provided a great deal of Wilson's campaign funds because of her perceived strong credentials on national security.

Wilson was the number-four recipient of money from then-U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ARMPAC campaign contributions. ARMPAC was subsequently dismantled due to its fraudulent distribution of funds. Wilson returned $10,000 of the $46,959 she received from ARMPAC, though Democrats called on her to return all of the money.

During Wilson's reelection campaign in 2004, her political opponent, Richard Romero, ran advertisements that made the suggestion that her votes in Congress aided Osama bin Laden because she had voted against a bill to require the screening of cargo holds. Wilson's campaign countered with a policy ad stating "Richard Romero opposes death penalty for child molesters who kill their victims." Wilson won the election by a 10% margin over Romero, the same margin of victory she had against Romero in the 2002 election.

2006 Election

In the 2006 elections, Heather Wilson faced an election day challenge from New Mexico Attorney General Patricia A. Madrid. The race was Wilson's toughest challenge since taking office. Since early September 2006, Wilson had been behind in all polls. For example, a poll taken from October 24-29 by Reuters/Zogby showed Madrid leading Wilson 53-44. Nevertheless, the election day results were far more favorable to Wilson. According to the Albuquerque Journal on Thursday, November 9, 2006, Wilson possessed a 1,300-plus-vote lead with 99% of the votes counted. Nevertheless, the final results and a formal certification of a winner needed to be delayed until additional hand-tallying of paper ballots and provisional ballots were completed. (Historically many provisional ballots are thrown out because of lack of signatures or many are not registered voters, according to County Clerk Mary Herrera.) Later that same day (November 9th), Wilson declared victory in the congressional race, although Madrid refused to concede. Finally, on Tuesday, November 21, 2006, two weeks after the election, Madrid conceded to Heather Wilson. Madrid lost the election by 875 (out of 211,000) votes, or 0.4%.

NSA Warrantless Domestic Surveillance

On February 7, 2006 Heather Wilson called for a full congressional inquiry into the NSA warrantless surveillance. Eric Lichtblau of The New York Times suggested that "the congresswoman's discomfort with the operation appears to reflect deepening fissures among Republicans over the program's legal basis and political liabilities"

Wilson's appeal for more oversight came nearly two months after existence of the citizen spying program first became publicly known. Some believe that her late outcry became politically necessary due to the increased heat coming from Wilson's first formidable election opponent, Attorney General Patricia Madrid. In the days before Wilson spoke up, Madrid's campaign released both a fund-raising report showing Madrid had out-raised Wilson in the previous financial quarter and a poll putting the two candidates in a statistical tie.

Environmental record

Wilson has voted in favor of legislation to make the EPA a cabinet department, to expedite forest thinning projects, and to deauthorize critical habitat designated by the Endangered Species Act. The League of Conservation Voters recently named her to its “Dirty Dozen” list of environmentally irresponsible federal officeholders, citing her support for uranium industry practices that contaminate groundwater, for policies that would allow “unlimited mining waste dumping on public lands,” and for reduced accountablility for mining companies implicated in pollution. Wilson has also been criticized by New Mexico farmers for what they see as her anti-environment stance: she voted against a $58 million dollar fund for voluntary conservation measures in the state. The League of Conservation Voters gave Wilson an “abysmal” rating on its 2003 National Scorecard, rebuking her for taking more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from the Energy Lobby.

Controversy and criticism

Fired US attorneys

Main article: Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy

Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy

Timeline Summary of attorneys Congressional hearings List of dismissed attorneys All related articles

Prior to the 2006 midterm election Rep. Heather Wilson called and "pressured New Mexico U.S. attorney David Iglesias to speed up indictments in a federal corruption investigation that involved at least one former Democratic state Senator."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) issued subpoenas to require Iglesias, among other recently ousted U.S. attorneys, to testify before Congress about their firings. Iglesias testified that Wilson asked him whether the Senator would be indicted prior to the November election — information he was not permitted to divulge. He said Wilson was curt after Iglesias was non-responsive to her questions. Iglesias was fired one week afterward by the Bush Administration.

In a March 2007 statement, Wilson admitted making such a call, but stated "My call was not about any particular case or person, nor was it motivated by politics or partisanship."

Ex. Gov. David Cargo (R-NM) accused Wilson of "essentially taking the Fifth [Amendment]" defense thus far. Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, a Democrat, called Wilson’s actions “reprehensible," and predicted that "Heather Wilson will no longer be elected in New Mexico.”

Department of Children, Youth and Families file

In 1996, while working as the Secretary of the State of New Mexico's Department of Children, Youth and Families, Wilson moved a confidential file whose contents involved her husband from the Department's central location. When a local news station reported this, Wilson stated that she didn't "remove" the file. In a 1998 campaign ad, Wilson's Democratic opponent charged that Wilson lied with that statement and that her act was an abuse of power, allegations she vehemently denied. Wilson's spokesman said her intent was to safeguard, not remove, its contents from illegal access.

External links

• U.S. Congresswoman Heather Wilson official House site
• United States Congress. "Heather Wilson (id: w000789)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Federal Election Commission — Heather A. Wilson campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — Heather Wilson issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Heather Wilson campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative Heather A. Wilson (NM) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Heather Wilson profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Heather Wilson voting record
• House Eyes National Toxics Law Zachary Coile, SF Chronicle, July 13, 2006.
• NM Republican Heather Wilson's "Nipplegate" commentary You tube segment of Heather Wilson at House FCC Hearing